Must You?
by Jo Claire
Summary: The pressure has gotten to Harry. Can Hermoine help him? Will Ron stand up to his best friend? Does Ginny have the strength to walk away from their relationship? Abuse reference, no pairings, before epilogue, complete.


Disclaimer: I don't own any of this except for the parts I do. AKA… JKR owns HP and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus sings Face Down.

Must You?

_Girl you know you drive me crazy_

_One walk puts the rhythm in my head_

_Still I'll never understand why you hang around_

_I see what's going down_

I watched Ginny get ready for the party. Man, but she was sexy. She walked to our closet, wearing nothing except the bruises and lingerie I gave her. She stood there; weight on one leg, with her hand resting on her hip.

"What would you like me to wear tonight, Harry?" She inquired softly.

"Whatever you want to," I snapped, "Just nothing _too_ provocative." I knew I gave her a fine line to walk. I wanted to show her off, but she would catch it later if I thought she was flaunting herself.

Why do I do this to her? Why does she let me?

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Ginny snapped unthinkingly. Realizing what she had said, her eyes widened. "I'm sorry! Oh merlin, Harry, I'm so sorry! I don't know what got into me! I'm sorry!"

"Watch it!" I warned. I always said this to her when she forgot who was in charge. She knew what was coming now. I knew I couldn't bruise her before the party. But after…

***

_Cover up with make-up in the mirror_

_Tell yourself it's never going to happen again_

_You cry alone and then he swears he loves you_

I lie on the bed, suppressing the sobs that begged to be released. But I know better than to give in. He hated it when I cried. So I didn't. Not anymore.

I tell myself I'm not going to let this happen again. Never again. But I know it's a lie. Even now, as I lie with my body throbbing in pain, I knew I wasn't leaving Harry.

I set my alarm twenty minutes early – I had some work to do to cover up tonight's bruises.

***

_Do you feel like a man when you push her around?_

_Do you feel better now, as she falls to the ground?_

_Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end_

_As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found_

I watched Ginny come into work late. Again. I saw her stop at the rubbish bin. I watched as she hesitated, drew a piece of parchment from her pocket, looked at it, crumpled it up and threw it in the bin.

As soon as she was out of sight, I hurried over, and fished out the parchment.

_Babe-_

_I'm so sorry about last night._

_I never should have hit you._

_I feel like the scum of the Earth._

_Please forgive me, babe,_

_I love you,_

_Harry_

I gasped. Oh no, I was right!

Why does Harry do it? Why does he feel the need to strike her? Does it make him feel like a man? Son of a – how dare he hurt Ginny! I am so worried about her, worried that one day she isn't going to come to work.

One day these days, Harry was going to find these things coming back to haunt him. Hermione Granger was going to make sure of that.

***

_A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect_

_Every action in this world will bear a consequence_

_If you wait around forever you will surely drown_

_I see what's going down_

"WHAT??" I exploded, "You did WHAT to my sister?"

"Hey… Ron… it was a one time thing! I lost control ok? I'm working on it!"

He might have been lying… I could never tell with Harry. "Bloody right you're working on it! If I ever hear of you laying a hand on her again…!"

"Yeah yeah… ok!! I get it! It won't happen again!"

He was on the defensive now. "Yeah, you're working on it! Cause if it EVER happens again, you are gonna regret this. This WILL come back to haunt you!!! I don't care if you're my best mate… I can, and will, hex your sorry arse into oblivion!!"

***

_I see the way you go and say you're right again_

_Say you're right again_

_Heed my lecture_

_Do you feel like a man, when you push her around? _

_Do you feel better now, as she falls to the ground?_

_Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end_

_As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found_

"Harry, we need to talk," I said.

No, I couldn't just go up to him and say that. He would think Ginny told me, and then he would punish her for that. And that's what I'm trying to fix.

Why? Why? Why does he do it? Why does he feel the need to take out life's injustice on Ginny? Why does he make her life a living hell? She could see Ginny wasting away everyday at work. Why doesn't Ginny do anything? She used to be so strong. But she wasn't any more. And that scared the crap out of me.

I was going to talk to Harry. And he was going to listen.

***

_Face down in the dirt she said this doesn't hurt _

_She said I've finally had enough_

_Face down in the dirt she said this doesn't hurt _

_She said I've finally had enough_

_One day she will tell you that _

_She has had enough_

_It's coming around again_

I lie on the ground listening to Harry leave.

I slowly pick myself up off the ground.

I walk carefully to our, no - _his_ room.

I chose a bag and start putting some clothes into it.

I hope Hermione will let me stay with her for a while.

I write a note, telling Harry good-bye. I don't mention where I'm going.

I'm not that stupid.

***

_Do you feel like a man, when you push her around? _

_Do you feel better now, as she falls to the ground?_

_Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end_

_As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found_

**A/N- **Just to clear things up- I love Harry just as much as the next person- but I couldn't think of a plausible excuse for why anyone we cared about (Hermione, Ginny, Luna) would end up with someone who would beat them up. Why don't we just say Harry is suffering from, er, Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder or something? And he gets over it with counseling. Or if you don't like Harry, we could just leave him as a slimy git who enjoys Ginny's pain. I wrote this to the acoustic version of this song, incase anyone was wondering. Thank you for reading and reviews would be wonderful! Blessed Be - Jo


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